WOW! I can't believe it has been 17 years ago. I can still remember like it was yesterday. I don't know what else to say other than, God Bless those whom we lost and those who survived that tragic day.
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Thursday, September 6, 2018
The Bandit's Last Pursuit
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| Pontiac Trans Am Firebird |
WOW! I can't believe The Bandit (Burt Reynolds) is no longer alive to bring us laughter and entertainment. Yes, I am a fan of Burt Reynolds. He was born in 1936 and even though I would see him on television or wherever as a Senior Citizen, I always envision him with the black cowboy hat and in the driver's seat of that beautiful Trans Am. I remember him starring in some of my favorite movies, Smokey and The Bandit, The Longest Yard (Is my absolute favorite Burt Reynolds Movie) and The Cannonball Run but, I didn't know until just recently he was in Gunsmoke and starred in a TV Series, Hawk. From what I read about Hawk, I really want to watch it now. One other movie that I really enjoyed is City Heat, a movie that featured both Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood. How cool is that? It wasn't a great movie but, I still enjoyed it. From my knowledge, I don't think Clint and Burt co-starred in any other movies, which sucks in my humble opinion. I wish they could have done a few more movies together. If you know of any, comment below. I would like to know.
The one movie Burt Reynolds was in that I don't care for and will never watch again is Deliverance. Dang! Did that movie give me the creeps. I didn't get to watch it until much later so, I was in my 20's when I watched the film. It was a good story but, if you haven't seen it yet, there are scenes that were disturbing. As Forrest Gump says, "That's all I have to say about that."
Now, all I can think about is that Trans-am in Smokey and The Bandit. That is one gorgeous car. When I was Kid had a plastic model that I had to put together with the old modeling glue and painted it with the paint that is sold in the little tiny jars. The plastic model I had was similar to the Bandit car but, it was grey with the big Firebird emblem on the hood. And, I used to imagine owning that Trans Am and just cruise the numerical mile to anywhere. I love the latest generation of the Chevy Camaro but, I wonder... Will GM-Pontiac ever bring back the Trans-Am? I hope so. I did a quick search on Google for any news regarding the return of the Trans Am and it doesn't look like it is happening any time soon. I did find an interesting article over at FoxNews.com about whatever happened to Bandit's Pontiac.
I found a picture of a Pontiac Trans Am Firebird that I took at the Murrieta Father's Day Car Show. Beatiful car.
Rest In Peace Mr. Burt Reynolds. You will be missed. You did bring a lot of laughter and entertainment to my life over the years. One last thing... I remember he did a guest appearance in one of my favorite shows many years ago, Burnt Notice. He played an old, retired Spy. Bury Reynolds was still cool.
Until next time, Smoke'em if you got'em.
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
License to Drive
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| License To Drive |
Anyway, I just had to let my 15 year old Son watch that 1980's Something classic, License to Drive with the two Corey's. Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. I had forgotten that Carol Kane was in this movie. She cracks me up, she is great. I had forgotten how many movies she has been in. Amazing.
I started thinking more about my Son driving ever since I read an email from one of the insurance carriers I work with, Safeco. I found the info very useful and interesting. Click here if you are interested in checking it out. What I do now is take my Son out for some drive time and tell him about my years of experience on what to do or not to do when driving. The one thing I have learned is never trust another driver. Sounds harsh? Probably but, I have learned that not every driver likes to use their signals to warn you they are turning or moving into your lane. Some times another driver won't even give you any type of warning and just quickly drift into your lane. The most important thing I have learned. Don't tailgate. Don't EVER tailgate. Yes, I am one of those idiots who used to do that many times in my youth. I changed to where I leave plenty of room between the car in front of me and myself. I had too many close calls in rear ending the person in front of me. Yes, I was very stupid and at times I am still do stupid things. I guess that is why we all have insurance.
I know, I am starting to rant on like I did in my previous post, What's The Hurry?! Well, this is my blog so, I will rant on whatever and whenever I want. I have to admit I am a little nervous about my Son starting driving but, I think that goes with the territory of being a Dad. I was nervous when his 3 Older Sisters started driving but, over time I don't worry about them on their driving skills. They have been driving for many years now and turned out to be good drivers.
Until next time, Smoke'em if you got'em!
Thursday, August 30, 2018
What's The Hurry?!
Thursday morning, I had to literally peel my dead tired body off my nice warm, comfortable bed and get ready for my not so nice commute to work. Actually, I don't mind the commute, it isn't that far compared to other people I know who have a longer commute than I do. Anyway, today I decided to take Ol'Gray (Nissan Versa) out and leave Little Red (Mini Cooper) behind for the Queen (Wife) to use for the day. Little Red (Mini Cooper) did good this past week. We reported to Jury Duty on Monday and unfortunately, I wasn't selected to serve. To be honest, I really wanted to serve on this particular trial. According to the Judge this case would be wrapped up by this Friday or next Tuesday at the latest. The courthouse is only a 12-15 minute drive from my house, I wouldn't have to report in until 9 am and instead of only an hour for lunch, it would be an hour and half. Ah well, there is always next year. Basically all I did on Monday was sit in a court room witnessing the process of Juror Selection. Very interesting on how the Defense and Prosecutor go about trying to select the best jury to fit their requirements. Do they really want a non-biased, open minded juror? Just a question that ran through my old skull.
Anyway, back to this morning, Thursday August 30th, 2018, I am strapped into Ol'Gray's (Nissan Versa) driver seat, logged into Waze for traffic conditions and tuned into the local radio station 94.5 KMYT. I am addicted to this radio station to get me through my morning commute. All they do is play music, and every once in a while Dwight Arnold will talk about some interesting topic and gives daily updates on the Dodgers. This radio station isn't like the other radio stations that have too much talk and try to be "zany" or "crazy." I swear all of the other morning radio programs sound the same. They sound like they use the same jokes or pull the same pranks. Anyway, I just like listening to music in the mornings; whether, it is the local radio station, Google Music or Amazon Music. I use to subscribe to Pandora but, for me I find Google Music and Amazon Music to work the best. Others love Pandora or Spotify and they are good apps, I just don't care to use them. No other reason than I just don't care.
Anyway, I am cruising along the I-15 and as usual as soon as I pull up to the Winchester exit on the South side, the traffic slows down to a steady crawl. I don't think anything of it because, this is typical for any day of the week. In all honesty, this typical on weekends depending upon the time of day. Seven days a week there is a traffic jam on the I-15 between Murrieta and Rainbow. Usually, once you get past the Hwy 79 Exit, the speed of traffic starts to pick up a little. Well, this morning once I just past Hwy 76 and closer to the Hwy 398 Exit, traffic came to a dead stop. According to Waze their is an accident a little more than a mile from where I was "parked." I might as well have been in park, it was slow moving all the way through and as I am crawling past the accident I did a quick glance to see a motorcycle and maybe two cars were involved. Didn't look good to me, not that any accident looks good. I just hope everyone involved came out okay. So, this leads to my current post or better yet, rant. I am just as guilty as the next person when I say, we need to be more careful while driving. It seems, to me anyway, there have been more massive accidents on the I-15 between Temecula and Escondido. I understand we all are in a hurry to get to work or home or wherever. We have to remember (including myself) that there are other drivers sharing the road with me who have places to go. We need to slow down a little and not cut people off. I don't care if a person behind me decides to get into the lane next to me, speeds up to pass and get in front of me as long as they turn on their blinkers indicating what their plans are. What drives me crazy is if they don't turn on their signals informing me that they are moving into my lane. Give me time to gently tap Little Red's (Mini Cooper) or Ol'Gray's (Nissan Versa) brakes or take my foot off of the gas pedal so, I can leave enough room for you to get in. I don't care if someone feels like they are in hurry and need to get in front of me. I don't want to slam on my brakes and pray I don't rear end you. I remember in my crazy youth I used to drive like an idiot and at times I will catch myself reverting to those bad habits and remind myself to be a smarter driver. Drive safe people. I don't want to see you and your vehicle stopped on the road due to any type of accident, minor or major. It isn't good for your health and it isn't good for your pocket book or wallet.
It was just over two months ago when we had that major accident involving a Semi that shut down the I-15 for 10 hours. My Google Maps guided me through some side streets, that were very cool until, I reached an old dirt, extremely rough road that had me come up behind the Pala Casino. The road was so rough with bumps, it literally shook Ol'Gray (Nissan Versa) so hard it caused the dash board to vibrate and felt like Ol'Gray (Nissan Versa) was being torpedoed by photon torpedoes, sorry another Star Trek reference. I thought she was going to start falling apart on me. I even slowed her down to 5 mph and still shook the crap out of her. But, being the Road Warrior she is, Ol'Gray (Nissan Versa) made it through. Click here if you want to see the details on the accident. And then, just a couple of weeks ago or so, we had another one involving a truck filled with concrete debris, junk and wheel barrels. I have a friend who witnessed the accident and claims he had seen one of the wheel barrows fly thru the air, over the guard rail and down the drop. As I drove past I did a couple of firemen standing by the guard railing looking down so, it must have happened. I found the following link with more information, feel free check it out, Fallbrook Sig Alert.
Stay Safe People and Smoke'em if you got'em.
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Ode To Mini Coopers
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| Original Little Red |
This isn't really an Ode, just my rambling on and on about Mini Coopers and other cars I have come across in my lifetime up to this point. My Original Little Red was a 2010 Mini Cooper. It came with a 4 cylinder engine. Unlike, my current Little Red (Mini Cooper), it didn’t have all the bells and whistles. The 2010 was as plain as you could possibly get in that Generation model, it considered the 2nd Generation under the BMW banner. It is hard to believe that the Newer Little Red (Mini Cooper) comes with a 3 cylinder twin turbo engine and I would've thought she would be slow off the line and have issues with straining to go up a steep hill but, no. She will take off like a scared rabbit. The 2015 Little Red (Mini Cooper) isn't the fastest car but, she isn't the slowest either. Just fast enough for me to get out of trouble if I ever need to. That is something my Dad used to say. The engine type in Little Red is the BMW 1.5 liter B38. If my information is incorrect, please let me know. I am happy to be given the correct information if I happen to be wrong. I strongly believe that you do learn something new every day.
Anyway, I found a couple of few interesting articles regarding the engine.
Wards Auto Article, click here.
Auto News article, click here.
Anyway, I have to admit with the 2010 Mini, it took me some time to figure out how to use the various controls of the heating-A/C, the windows and the radio-cd player. I am probably one of the few that LOVED the huge, round speedometer that was dead center of the dashboard and didn't really seem to serve a purpose as opposed to letting my Co-Pilot, the Queen (Wife) the ability to see if I was speeding or not. Every time, she would see it go over the speed limit, she would nudge me and yell, "Aren't you driving too fast?!"
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| Mini of Irvine |
The 2010 Mini was a leased vehicle and I had to keep it under 30k miles even though I lived in South Riverside County and commuted to the Lake Forest area of the OC. What I would do is drop down the rear seats and cram my bike into the 2nd Gen Little Red (Mini Cooper), drive to the train station in Corona which is about 33 miles from my home, and park her in the train station garage. Yank out my bike and take it on board the train with me and ride from Corona to the Irvine Station. It was actually kind of nice riding the train. Simply store the bike in the back, plop my butt on of the seats and take a bit of a nap or read a book depending on my mood. When I arrived at the Irvine station, I would scramble off the train, jump on my bike and ride for about 3 miles, maybe a little more to work in Lake Forest. I loved the bike ride early in the morning and I ended up losing a lot of weight. On rainy days, there was a bus I would ride to get to work. After work, I did it all in reverse to get home. It all worked out because, when it came time to turn over the lease, the Original Little Red (Mini Cooper) still had less than 30k miles. It was around 28k miles. I was thinking about purchasing her at the time of turning the lease over; however, the Irvine Mini Dealership was asking too much money for it. I loved the car but, not that much.
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| 2002 Chevy Impala |
Right after I turned in the 2010 Mini Cooper, I found a 2012 Nissan Versa (Ol'Gray) for sale, (this was the year of 2014), with only 9k miles and for only $11k, I couldn't pass up on that deal. I was in the market for a Versa or a Honda Fit. I don't know why but, I like the look of the Versa and the Fit. They are Geeky Sexy to me. I didn't think of getting another Mini because, at the time I wanted something with a little more room and still get great gas mileage. Yeah, lame excuse. I should have gotten another Cooper. Whatever... But, Ol'Gray is turning out to be great little car. She has over 130k miles and still runs like a charm. Unlike, my old 2002 Chevy Impala that started giving me problems a month or two after owning it. What I loved about the Impala was how roomy it was inside the cabin and trunk area. At the time we had two babies and I could fit two bulky car seats in the back seats and a large double stroller in the truck and still have room for playpen and other baby things that were needed when on a road trip to somewhere. The Impala served its purpose. What did I name it? That is one car, I never gave an official name, just Impala. Yeah, pretty boring. I called it the Tardis every once in a while because it was blue but, that nickname never stuck. For those of you who are saying, Tardis? What kind of name is that? Click here to learn more. The Impala did get good gas mileage for a V6. The day it died, I was a bit relieved. I spent too much money on repairing the thing. I should have gotten rid of it a long time ago. Compared to the Versa, the Impala wasn't a very reliable car.
Enough about the Impala and Ol'Gray, more about Mini's. Throughout my travels or just by running around town, I am always on the lookout for Mini Coopers and at the Marconi Automotive Museum the had a 1961 Morris Mini Minor. This little car's top speed was 73 mph and can do the 0.25 mile in about 24 seconds. I love this little car, I just had to take some pictures. If you have never been to the Marconi, I highly recommend checking out this auto museum, there are cars everywhere it seems. Our company had its 50th Year Anniversary Party there back in May. I definitely want to go back there again. I spent several hours and I feel like I didn't get to see every car on display. But then again, I didn't spend too much time going from car to another to gawk and drool. I was also mingling, dancing and eating since it was a company party. Not only did I love seeing this little Mini, I also enjoyed the DeLorean as well. Yeah, I lived through the '80's so, I have an appreciation for the DeLoreans. As a matter of fact back in the day when I was in high school, a neighbor of ours had one. I don't think he ever took it out for a drive, it was stored in his garage and I was fortunate enough to at least look at it up close. I've heard the Delorean may make a comeback a while ago and there is a website, Delorean.com, I haven't been paying too much of attention to what the status is or of the details but, I hope they do make a comeback. Another Auto Museum I recommend is the Petersen Auto Museum. I attend a cigar dinner at the Petersen Auto Museum many years ago.
There as a time a few months back, I needed new visors for the Ol'Gray (Nissan Versa) but, purchasing them online or thru a local dealer they are expensive. So, I took a trip to LKQ Pick Your Part, the local junkyard. I love walking around in junkyards, whether I need parts or not. I had my two youngest kids with me looking for a sun visor. We kept finding Nissan Sentra's and Altima's but, not one Versa and then I found few Mini Coopers that were wrecked and picked through for parts by other people. I just had to take some pictures of the cars. If you haven't figured it out by now, I am obsessed with the Mini Cooper, no matter the year or model. After I snapped a few pictures, we were back on our quest to find a Nissan Versa with sun visors still available. I noticed most cars we looked over especially on the Nissan's, the visors were missing. But, before I could give up hope, we did finally stumble upon a Versa with the driver and passenger visors attached. I immediately surgically removed them from the wrecked Versa and paid for them. Mission accomplished.
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| Mini Cop Car |
A few weeks ago or so, I ran into a little Mini in Escondido painted up like a little cop car. Very Cool! I am just guessing and I am probably incorrect in my estimation but, I believe it is a Mark V or VI. If you know exactly which one it is please let me know, I am very curious. I wish I could have located the owner to find out more about the car. I am still fascinated by the vehicle. I remember a half dozen years ago or so, I attended the Murrieta Father's Day Car Show and spotted an older, I forget which year, Red Mini. By the body shape and interior it wasn't created under the BMW banner and again I forget which year it was made. I could have sworn I took a picture or two of the little car but, I can't locate the photos. Every year I go back to Murrieta Car Show and the Murrieta Hot Rod Run in October but, I haven't run into that car ever since that day long ago. Sucks. I remember the owner was a young college kid and he claims he always wanted to get a Mini, he found his back East somewhere, I don't recall where, he purchased it and had it hauled to California on a trailer. He couldn't stop talking about how much he really enjoys his little Mini.
Friday, August 17, 2018
Nature's Fireworks
The night I hand wrote this into my notebook was on Thursday 8-16-18 and adding it to my blog now. Enjoy....
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| Punch Rare Corojo |
I went outside to my backyard to enjoy a a stogie and a glass or two of wine. The wine is a bottle of Bel Vino Vintners Select Prima Zinfandel Desert Wine, chilled which goes great with cigars. It tastes more like a port. And, the cigar is a Punch Rare Corojo. After I clipped my cigar and started to pour my wine, I noticed flashes of light in the distance in the East. I don't know how long it has been occurring but I noticed it at about 8:20 PM or so. It is 8:34 PM now since I started handwriting this in my notebook to add this entry into this blog later. The light was so awe inspiring that I felt a need to record it. It is natures version of fireworks. Just beautiful. It looks cloudy in the dark distance but, to me it doesn't look like your typical storm clouds. Over my head the the sky is clear and I can see the constellations and to the East of me I can see a very bright almost yellowish star or planet. I can see the crescent moon with one of the planets shining next to it off to the West of me.
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| Lightning Show |
The only thing is I don't hear any thunder. I am not a meteorologist by any stretch of the imagination but, correct me if I am wrong shouldn't I be hearing thunder? I had to do a Google search and according to nssl.noaa.gov website, NSSC National Severe Storms Laboratory it isn't possible to have lightning without thunder. It is possible to not hear the thunder due to the storm being too far away and yet, still be able to see the lightning. I feel I should be able to hear it because, the lightning seems so close to where I live.
I do see chain lighting from time to time but, mostly it has been just a quick flash lighting up the entire distance night sky. It is now 8:56 PM and it is still putting on a decent light show. sometimes quick little bursts and then a large flash. It seems to be moving East as time goes by. Out of curiosity I started to time it between flashes and I am averaging about 4 seconds between bursts. I am know I am writing a lot about this lightning show but weather especially storms fascinate me. I have always had a fascination with t storm and tornadoes. I fear tornadoes though. On a side note I don't really fear earthquakes as much as I do tornadoes. I would rather go thru an earthquake than a tornado any day if I had the choice.
I should have went to school to be a meteorologist but my problem is school. I used to hate sitting in a classroom all day. I used to look out the classroom window and gaze out onto the horizon wondering what is happening on the other side of the world. Time is 9:03 PM still flashing you can tell it is moving on time between flashes is about 15 seconds. This is highly unscientific. The temp here is about 72 degrees and the humidity is 77 percent. It doesn't feel that warm to me, I can feel a nice cool breeze that is probably why it feels cooler. This is the perfect temp to be outside at night in a t shirt and shorts. Not too hot and not cold. Well the time is now 9:17 PM and I have seen any flashes of late. I noticed the last flash occurred at about 9:14 PM. That sucks because I was really enjoying the show. Oh, I tried filming the light show on my phone's camera but, it didn't seem to work very well.
Until next time... Smoke'em if you got'em.
Thursday, August 16, 2018
A Car Shopping We Shall Go!
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| White Knight 2010 Mazda 3 |
Our 2nd Oldest Daughter's old Mazda 3 has driven its last mile. It all happened this past Saturday, when the White Knight (2010 Mazda 3) finally decided to not go into reverse. Its about time it finally decided to quit running properly because, I really wanted her to get a new car. The White Knight had seen better days with 200K miles on it. Oh, yes I do name cars. I blame my Uncle Earl for that because, I can remember he purchased a beautiful beat up 1958 Ford Panel Truck and he took the time to paint on the doors and on the front of the hood of the truck "Mule." My Dad then bought from my Uncle Earl and left the painted name on the old truck and thus, it was always referred to as the Mule. I can remember every time my Uncle would get another truck, he would name them all Mule II, Mule III and I believe he got up to Mule IV. I could be wrong.
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| The Mule Ford Truck |
Yesterday, during work I received a text message from the Queen (Wife) instructing me to send her a copy of the auto insurance id cards so, our Daughter #2 could have a copy to get her brand new 2018 Nissan Altima SR in the color of Gunmetal. The SR is the sportier edition of the Altima line. The SR comes with a 4 Cylinder - 2.5 liter engine that produces 152 horsepower and will get about 37 mpg. I feel that is kind of high in mileage but, I could be wrong. I was so excited for our 2nd Daughter, I immediately sent the id cards to the Queen (Wife) and asked when does our 2nd Oldest plan on picking up the car, I wanted to tag along. I found out right away that the car is in Cerritos and she is picking it up tonight after work. I didn't waste any time to get home, it took me about an hour and five minutes, thankfully traffic wasn't too bad like it normally is.
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| 2018 Nissan Altima SR |
The drive out to Cerritos was a long drive but, we had the Grandkids with us and they always make me laugh and we drove past the area that was hit by the Holy Fire. Thankfully, it is mostly contained now. When we arrived at the Cerritos Nissan Dealeship, right away I noticed what was parked right outside of the Dealership Showroom, an elegant and pretty gray Alfa Romeo Giula. WOW! I just had to stop to gawk and snap some pictures. All the Sales Reps must have thought I was crazy but, I don't care. I am used to people thinking I am off the walls. One thing, I didn't notice was the price or the year. I wish I would have though, just for shits and giggles. I was fascinated by the car. It had to be a trade in? Correct me if I am wrong but, I didn't think Nissan owns the Alfa Romeo brand, I was under the impression it is owned by Fiat. It seems I can never keep track of who owns what any more. Anyway, at times I forget Fiat owns Chrysler and Tata owns Jaguar. I watched a video on YouTube a while ago talking about how big Tata is and I found that company very fascinating. If you get a chance, check it out. Very cool.
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| Nissan 370Z |
When I was done admiring the Alfa Romeo, I walked into the Dealership showroom so, our 2nd Oldest could get started on the paperwork part of purchasing the car. While she was doing that I took the Grandkids to go look at the cars on display in the showroom. I started to drool over the 370Z Roadsters on displayed in their showroom. There was a beautiful black, NISMO edition and a couple of other black 370Z's; however, my personal favorite was the shiny, bright red 370Z. I just had to snap some pics of it. I can't explain it but, ever since I owned the first Little Red (2010 Mini Cooper), I really like red sporty cars. I used to like black or blue but, not any more. I must be hitting my Mid-Life Crisis or something. My little 2 year old Granddaughter loved looking at the cars as well, she wanted me to hold her so, I could help her look inside and she would say, "WOW! Cool!" "
A funny story about our little 2 year old Granddaughter, I sat down next to our 2nd Oldest Daughter for a bit while she was doing the paperwork, there were another group of older kids with their parents who are running around the showroom and screaming. Our little 2 year old yells out, "KIDS! STOP! SHUSH!" she is too funny sometimes. Well all of the time.
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| Nissan GTR |
I also enjoyed looking over the GTR that was on displayed but, a white car just doesn't look as cool as a sports car that is painted a nice black, blue or red. I never really appreciated cars that are painted white; however, there are some exceptions to that rule of mine. I do know someone who owns a classic white Corvette and that car is immaculate. Oh, by the way, at the Cerritos Nissan Dealership I discovered they have the COOLEST thing EVER! They have the exact same coffee machine that is in the Best Western in Milpitas that we stayed at during our Mini Adventure to San Francisco. Naturally, I just had to have a cup of the vanilla latte extra, extra strong. My Wife warned me it was already around 9:30 PM and it will keep me up the rest of the night. I didn't care, I craved this latte. Back to my 2nd Oldest, after the paperwork was completed and we transferred the car seats over from the Big Bertha (Our 2010 Chevy Suburban) to the new Altima, we were on our way back home. Our 4 year old Grandson loves the new Altima, he kept telling me about their new car and it is really fast. We left the Dealership by around 10:30 pm or so, I don't know the exact time as I was having fun with the Grandkids playing in the Kids Room on the tablets that are stationed there. Pretty cool entertainment to keep us preoccupied while the 2nd Oldest Daughter was finishing up the paperwork..
I just had to post a picture of Big Bertha (2010 Chevy Suburban.
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| Big Bertha Chevy Suburban |
Until next time, Smoke'em if you got'em
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